Group C of the Champions League this season will no doubt be dominated by talk of Premier League Manchester City, who are favourites to win the group and lift the trophy.
However, the Citizens three group rivals will all believe they have a realistic chance of heading through to the knockout stages. Two of those teams Dinamo Zagreb and Atalanta meet at the Stadion Maksimir on Wednesday night.
Dinamo Zagreb have started the new Croatian top-flight campaign in decent form and currently sit second in the HNL table. The team from the capital have also enjoyed a solid Champions League campaign so far.
Druženje s navijačima uoči Lige prvaka 😁🦁🎉👏🏻⚽️💙 #dinamozagreb #UCL 📷 Goran Stanzl/Pixsell @daniolmo7 pic.twitter.com/t51UPVPD7p— GNK Dinamo (@gnkdinamo) September 16, 2019
Druženje s navijačima uoči Lige prvaka 😁🦁🎉👏🏻⚽️💙 #dinamozagreb #UCL 📷 Goran Stanzl/Pixsell @daniolmo7 pic.twitter.com/t51UPVPD7p
Dinamo have already been through three qualifying rounds to book their place in the group stages, seeing off the threat of Saburtalo, Ferencvaros and in the play-offs Rosenborg.
Nenad Bjelica’s team have come through all six of their Champions League matches this season unbeaten. However, Dinamo will be hoping for a better campaign than the last time they made the group stages in 2016/17, as they lost all six games in a group containing Juventus, Lyon and Sevilla.
They have a reasonably strong home record in Europe’s elite competition, having won four of their last six games at the Stadion Maksimir.
Atalanta will be making their Champions League debut in this clash after finishing a highly respectable third place in Serie A last season.
Under the wily Gian Piero Gasperini, the Bergamo outfit have become a team to be reckoned with. Their only recent European experience, though came the season before last when they made it to the last 32 of the Europa League.
The visitors have started the new Serie A campaign in a decent fashion, winning two of their first three games.
Forebet predicts that this clash will finish in a draw that will produce under 2.5 goals, which would not be a terrible start to the campaign for either team.